Here’s one that I’m fairly good at: “Who is rich? He who is happy with his lot.”1

Happy with my lot? Yes. I’m satisfied with my status quo, I’m complacent about my spiritual fitness, and my growth is perfectly stagnant. In fact, I am doing better than Mrs. Neighbor-from-across-the-street who is way less religious than me.

Except, of course, that is not what this verse intended. I am meant to be happy with my lot, but only in the physical realm. When my possessions are not the most up to date, when I don’t drive a Bentley, or even a Lexus, this verse from Ethics of Our Fathers is telling me to be happy with my Chevy Venture that is 15 years old and makes almost daily visits to the mechanic.

When it comes to spirituality, the barometer is different. That’s when I should strive for the Lexus, or even the Bentley, and keep my eyes focused upwards.

When Lot and his wife were told to escape from Sodom before it was destroyed, the angel that was rescuing them warned, “Do not look behind you and do not stand on any of the plain; run to the mountain, lest you be swept away…”2 Luach Erez, a commentary on the Torah, reads this as a spiritual warning: “Don’t look at the sinners of Sodom and be satisfied that you are doing better. Don’t remain on a plateau of being spiritually stationary, keep climbing the mountain of personal growth.”

Lot’s wife did not listen to the angel. As she was leaving Sodom, she turned to look back at the destruction, with a smugness that she was faring better spiritually. She therefore “turned into salt.” She became as complacent as salt, which does not experience any growth.

Maybe I could learn from my other Mrs. Neighbor-across-the-street, who just so happens to raise her children with standards I could strive towards.

Thoughtstream: Today, I will measure myself against the higher values in my environment.

(Adapted from Pirkei Avot, Kehot, p. 117.)